Tens of thousands cheer at ANC rally before South Africa elections

South Africans head to the polls on May 19 in elections that could see the ANC lose its majority for the first time.

Tens of thousands of supporters dressed in yellow, green and black gathered for the final rally of the governing African National Congress (ANC) party in Johannesburg, South Africa’s biggest city, before watershed general elections next week.

Some 28 million registered voters will cast their ballot on Wednesday in a move that could see the ANC fail to clinch a majority in the national assembly for the first time in 30 years. Polls suggest ANC could win less than 50 percent of the vote.

If the predictions are accurate, it would mean that President Cyril Ramaphosa will need to strike a deal with one or more coalition partners to form a government and keep the country’s top job.

The biggest issues at stake in Africa’s most advanced economy include sky-high unemployment, violent crime, deteriorating public infrastructure, and stark economic inequality.

“We gather here carrying with us the hopes and aspirations of millions of our people … to declare that together, we will do more and we will do better,” Ramaphosa told his supporters in the FNB stadium on Saturday. In comments broadcast on national television, he said the ANC would focus on getting more South Africans into work, tackle the high cost of living, maintain existing social grants and progressively implement a basic income support grant for the unemployed.